1. Alkane C-H Bond Activation and Exchange in Solid Acids Jeffery L
Alkane C-H Bond Activation and Exchange in Solid Acids Jeffery L. White, Oklahoma State University, Department of Chemistry
The systematic conversion of hydrocarbons to desirable fuels and chemical feedstocks through heterogeneous catalysis is a continuing goal for the modern petrochemical industry. Increasingly, economic and environmental demands require flexibility in the choice of reagents, catalysts, and controllable reaction selectivities. While reaction and process engineering is the traditional route to provide such flexibility, a fundamental molecular understanding of specific reaction events involving primary and secondary reaction species, as well as the molecular role of the catalyst itself, is the only way to generate new, robust chemistries that provide desirable conversion, selectivity, and lifetime. In our PRF-funded work, we have shown by in-situ experimental NMR techniques that non-classical or weak C-H to O hydrogen bonds are the critical first step in alkane C-H bond activation over solid acid catalysts. A major conclusion regarding the relationship between catalyst structure and alkane reactivity involves the degree to which the catalyst structure can “solvate” the hydrogen-bonded transition state, of the type shown below. As in real estate, the bottom line is location, location, location.